Girl meets World
by Just call me Angels
Summary: [HMFG] After being shipwrecked and plagued with memmory lost, Jenn is given the task to not only take care of an ailing farm, but fitting in with the locals. Will these simple yet difficult things be too much for her to handle?
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer: I don't own or pretend to own HMFG or any of it's characters. In fact, I don't even own Jenn (Better known as Jill to most Harvest Mooners). She is the main character of Harvest Moon For Girl, and all I did was give her a name. I don't own the song, lyrics, melody, or anything else that has to do with 'Melodies of Life'. Please don't sue me. :P

UPDATE~ This update is just to go over some errors in my story. I have gone back and hopefully changed some typos, and maybe add / subtract a paragraph or so. As far as storyline goes though, I've changed nothing. If you see anymore mistakes, please tell me. It'd also be nice if you could tell me _where_ the mistake is, or _what_ it is, that way I can fix it faster. This story has roughly 17,000 plus words in it, and shifting though it to find 1 mistake can be a hassle.

****

Prolouge

Jenn sighed heavily. She leaned against the rail and looked over the side of the Cruise Ship. In the background of the ship, people were slow dancing in a Masquerade Ball. A popular song, "Melodies of Life" was being sung. It had been played over several times that day. Jenn hated things like this. She wasn't a princess, and didn't want to be treated like one. Jenn liked activity, and things that could challenge her, like sports. She wasn't into the whole 'damsel getting swept off her feet' deal.

"The waves are getting more violent," she said as the boat began to rock slightly.

She looked back into the crowd and saw her parents chatting gaily with her father's boss. Why the heck did she have to come on this trip again? Oh yeah, it was to meet to the boss' son who happened to be obnoxious and overweight. To put it straight, he was a spoiled mama's boy. Though his parents were really nice, he had the personality of a wet moose's hind end, and matching IQ. She was tired of trying to please her parents, and sometimes she wish she could run away. At 21 years old, she was tired of being her parent's doll.

__

"Alone for a while, I've been searching through the dark…For traces of the love you left, inside my lonely heart…"

"What a crappy song. Couldn't they have chosen anything better?" Jenn said out loud to herself.

"I agree."

__

"Our paths they did cross, though I cannot say just why…"

Jenn stayed in her laid back position and glanced at the stranger from the corner of her eye. He was just a bit taller than her by about 3-4 inches. Part of his face was hidden with a mask. She couldn't tell what color hair he had because it was dark, and though the party lights were pretty, they gave off little light to set a romantic mood. He also leaned against the side rail, looking out into the sea. Jenn noticed that he looked slightly guilty about something but dismissed the idea, and looked forward again.

"What's your excuse for being here?" Jenn said still in her same unwavering position.

Without turning around he pointed at a late-middle aged couple romantically dancing on the floor.

"My aunt and uncle thought it would be a good experience for me to come, so I ended up coming, despite protest. Can you believe it? 20 something years old and I'm still trying to please family," he said sarcastically.

"At least they aren't trying to play match-maker," Jenn replied while making hand gestures toward her family, the boss, and his pig of a son.

__

"We met, we laughed, we held on fast… And then we said good bye,"

The guy grimaced at the son. "You win," he said.

"I ALWAYS win," Jenn replied with a wry smile on her face. She stood up straight now and face forward towards the guy. "So, are you going to take that mask off, or do I have to keep guessing who this mystery man is?"

__

"And who'll hear the echoes of stories never told? Let ring out loud, 'til they unfold."

"We aren't supposed to take these things off until midnight; It's not my fault that this girl I'm talking to decided to bend the rules by not wearing one," he said sarcastically.

Jenn raised a brow.

"Ah, so we have a goody two shoes on our hands, do we? Do you always follow rules?" she asked.

"Always? No, but I didn't see any reason why I should this time."

"hmph." She spun around, tucking her arms behind her back. She noticed her parents looking at her, then going back to talking business. "Pfft, whatever," she muttered under her breath. 

__

"In my dearest memories… I see you reaching out to me…"

"So," the guy started, "You want to come to a table with me and talk, or do I have to stay out here to keep company with you?"

Jenn was a bit reluctant, but she eventually decided to go with the guy. Hey, she was stuck here, so she might as well try to enjoy it, right? And if most company onboard was like this guy she was sure to enjoy it.

"….Where is this hunk of metal going to anyway?" Jenn asked.

"It's headed for North Sea Beach City, the resort town. There really isn't much around that place except far to south, a small town called Mineral Village. I'll be heading there as soon as this cruise is over. I have business I need to attend to there. In fact, I think we are passing it now," he said.

Jenn looked over to her side. In the far away distance she could see small flickers of light and a faint trace of land. Just then an announcement from the captain came overhead.

ALL PASSENGERS PLEASE REPORT TO YOUR CABINS AND BRACE YOURSELF. A LARGE STORM IS COMING AND WILL HIT US SOON. DO NOT HANG AROUND THE DECK OR NEAR THE RAILS.

"Just my luck…" Jenn started, but was soon cut off. "Miss I think this is serious, we should report to our rooms," the guy interjected. Jenn looked at him and nodded.

__

"Though you're gone, I still believe that you can call, out my name…"

'That blasted song is still playing?' she thought to herself. She got up and tried to leave. It was slightly disorganized as people rushed to their rooms. Jenn could already see that her folks had gone to their room. The strong waves had already started crashing against the side of the ship, and a sudden down pour of rain pelted the deck. She was about to go join her parents when she heard frantic voices call for help.

"Timmy where are you?" called out a woman. "Timmy? Timmy!!" she repeated.

"Mommy!" a little boy cried.

Jenn looked around and saw a little boy huddled on the ground, gripping to the railing as tight as possible, drenched in water. She ran over to him and gently consoled him. 'Everything would be alright soon', she repeated over and over. She picked him up, and ran over to his mother. Jenn handed the little boy over to her, and then guided them to a door leading inside. By now all people had left the deck except for them. The two had gone in and Jenn was just about to when a strong gush of wind blew door off and sent Jenn flying into the railing. She flipped over and was about to fall into the seas when something caught her. Jenn looked up.

"It's that guy…" she whispered faintly then went unconscious.

"Hang on!" he yelled.

As he was trying to pull Jenn back on deck, several waves had violently rocked the boat back and forth. Suddenly a giant 20ft wave came out of nowhere.

"Oh shit…" where his last words before both he and Jenn were swept off the boat and out into the deep blue ocean.

~ Sometime later ~

"Hey… hey girl! Are you ok?"

"mmm?"

Jenn was asleep, but she could hear a voice trying to talk to her. She tried to wake up but it was difficult.

"Well she is stirring a bit, so she must be ok. I can't stay here very long though…"

'That voice sounds familiar' Jenn thought, 'from a boat? He saved me…But who is he?'

With that the mysterious guy gently laid Jenn along the beach coast and left. It wasn't but a few minutes later that Jenn was being vigorously shook awake by someone else. Jenn awoke to the sight of a burley man.

"Hey are you alright?" he asked.

"um…I think so…" she replied.

"My goodness," said a well dressed man, "What have we hear? A young girl from the sea? She must have been shipwrecked. Thankfully you some how got washed up on our beach."

Jenn had a quick vision of the boat party then the storm.

"Where am I?" Jenn asked groggily.

"My dear," replied the well dressed man, "You are in Mineral Village."

'Mineral Village…' Jenn reiterated to herself softly.

*End Prologue.

Author's note: I used lyrics from the song "Melodies of Life" from FF9, not only to set the mood and background of the story, but also I've selected certain lyrics to go in specific place, for specific reasons. And I know I skipped over some of the song, but I like I said, SPECIFIC lyrics ~-^. BTW incase you couldn't tell, the lyrics are italicized. At the end of writing this, I could help but repeat the words 'A 3 hour tour…A 3 hour tour" over and over again from Gilligan's Island opening theme song. :D


	2. Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places

Author's note: After this, the rest of the story will be cut up into Seasons, they will naturally be MUCH longer than the prologue, but hopefully not as long as this. :P I haven't played HMFG but I REALLY want to ;-; so some things may not be accurate. Also, when I start writing this, I hadn't gotten HM BTN (it was being shipped) so I kind of improvised. :P While I waiting for it to be shipped to me I decided to start a fanfic. :D Everything before the Popuri/Rick scene was written before I got the game. The scene itself and everything afterwards was after I got the game. Anyways, chances are I forgot to change some things, so don't yell at me. :P

Part 1 – Smiling Faces, Beautiful Places.

Jenn turned to the man that woke her up.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Me? I'm Zack, and that over there, he is the Mayor of this town, Mayor Thomas," Zack explained, "She'll need a place to stay until she can get back on her feet."

The man that called himself Zack was an extremely tall, extremely built, extremely _tan_ man with a little mustache. His voice was deep and scratchy, as opposed to the Mayor's sot of comedic, owl like voice.

"Yes, I suppose so. Let's see if there is a vacancy at the inn," said the Mayor.

"But I don't have any money…" Jenn interjected.

"That's quite alright, I'm sure Doug will let you pay once you get back to your house," the Mayor said cheerily.

"But…" Jenn started, "Where do I live? Who Do I live with? I can't remember…I can't remember anything…except the boat…and I didn't thank him either…"

"It looks like our new friend has amnesia…" said Zack.

"Indeed…" replied the mayor in a stupor as to what to do, "Well young lady, could you at least tell us your name?"

"It's Jenn."

A feeling of unhappiness overcame Jenn. Who was she? Where did she come from? Why was she on that boat? The boat…it was the only thing she could remember. She had a feeling she wasn't happy on that boat. But then she remembered meeting that mysterious guy…the one that saved her. She never found out who he was. But she did remember that he had business to attend to in Mineral Village! Maybe she could find him! She tried to go further and remember her own life, and felt sad again, though she couldn't say why.

"Well we could always let her stay at Old Man Murphy's Ranch," Zack suggested.

"But that ranch is in shambles, and we have to build something over it to make revenues for the town!" objected the Mayor, "Besides as soon as Jenn gets her memories back she will probably want to go home."

"I'll stay here," Jenn cut in. Something about staying in a hidden village and working on a farm excited her.

Both of the men gave her a puzzling look.

"I promise. I know you probably don't believe me, but…living on a ranch sounds exciting. I know it will be a lot of work, but I'm up to it, and I like challenges. Even if I do get my memories, I swear I won't leave. Just give me a chance," Jenn pleaded.

"Well, we don't have much time. If we don't start making money fast this town will dry up! But there is a certain spark in your eye that says you're the kind of person that can pull anything off. Ok. I'll let you. But you have 3 years to make a successful farm, otherwise I'm afraid we will have to tear it down," said the mayor.

"Thanks!" she said excitedly, all the while sporting a huge grin on her face.

The mayor and Zack simply chuckled. After a bit more of talk and a fair well from Zack, the Mayor showed Jenn to the ranch. He told her to rest up while she could, and that he would be at her house around 6 in the morning to show her a tour of the town. Jenn nodded and said goodbye as she walked into the house. Inside the house was bare, and falling apart. This plus clearing the field would take up most of her time tomorrow. It looks like she had A LOT of work to do. She looked around a bit and found 1,000 gold. That should come in handy later on.

"6 am, huh? In that case I better get some rest…" Jenn said to herself as she made he way to bed for some sleep.

*****

Jenn got up bright and early in the morning. She might actually get used to this farm life faster than she expected. She looked over on the counter and there was a pair of overalls and a red and white checkered shirt with a collar. Beside it was a few essential things she would need, like a brush, tooth paste, tooth brush, etc. She figured someone must have put them there while she was asleep. Immediately she got to work with preparing herself for the day. Once she was done cleaning up herself she donned the flannel shirt and overalls then opened the door, only to find the Mayor standing there, ready to knock.

"Good morning Miss Jenn," he greeted, "I'm glad to see that you're already up and ready by this hour. It's very nice to see you again."

"Likewise sir," Jenn said respectfully.

"Well now I shall take you on a tour of the town."

The first thing the mayor pointed out was the Chicken Hut as it was the closest to Jenn's new house. There, Jenn would be able to buy chickens and talk to experts about them. Beside it was the Yodel Ranch, where barn animals were kept for sale. There was a path between the Chicken store and the Yodel ranch that led to the mountains, which led back to the other side of Jenn's farm. Next was Rose Square, which had 3 other paths leading up to it. The Mayor explained that most Festivals would be held here. To the right was the beach, which was where Mayor Thomas and Zack had found her. To the left was the Inn, and straight ahead was the Church. Both of those paths eventually came together at the clinic. Past the Clinic was the Supermarket. Jenn made a mental note of that place, as she would need to come back later in the day for supplies. Past the market was a bunch of the local resident's house. They turned around the corner to see a small library that looked like no one had visited it. Finally along the last bit of the tour, was the Winery and Blacksmith.

"…And that concludes the tour my dear," the Mayor finished. "Now should you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask any of the locals for help. They are mighty friendly. Now if you continue along this same path, you will see that it leads right back to your farm, to the very same place spot we started the tour at!" With that the mayor walked off into the direction of his own house.

"Wow what an old fashioned place…. A blacksmith? Who uses those things anymore? … I guess me, sooner or later. Well, now that I'm here, I might as well try to meet people."

Jenn started to make her way along to the Chicken Farm when she noticed some of the locals staring at her, and even gossiping with their hand over their mouth, as if she couldn't tell they were saying something about her.

"I guess word got around about a shipwrecked girl taking over the ranch," she commented and continued on her way. 

Jenn stopped and thought for a minute. Her ranch was still messy and had a lot of work to do. It would be best for her to go back and clear it up a bit first. She went back to her farm and began clearing weeds. There were so many of them. Next came the hard part, breaking all the rocks and stumps. Jenn pulled out her hammer, which in turn was more like a mallet, and with great effort hit a small rock. It broke. Great, now she had the entire field of stones to break. Once she had finished she use the Ax to chop some branches. When clearing of the smaller things where done she took a minute break and observed what she had accomplished so far. The ranch was kind of big once you got all the mess out of the way. But now was not the time to laze about day dreaming. Jenn got back to work and walked up to a nearby tree stump. She raised the ax and swiftly chopped downwards.

WHACK!

Jenn's entire body was now shaking and was the ax's handle from the impact. The stump was still there. She decided to try again, but found that the ax's head was embedded in the stump and she couldn't pull it out.

"Aww damnit, now it's stuck!" she cried. She glared at the stump for a bit, as if the sheer force of her stare would actually accomplish something. No such luck. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, and Jenn wiped it away with her arm. Think, think, think. What could be done? After a few moments, a light bulb went off.

"Well I can't pull it out so maybe I can find someone who can. Maybe the blacksmith can help. I mean if he is a blacksmith, I figure he's gotta be strong, right?"

After a few more unsuccessful tries to remove the ax, Jenn went along with her previous plan and decided to pay a visit to the Blacksmith's shop. Jenn exited the farm via the mountain trail and after some walking, found herself between the chicken ranch and the livestock farm. Pressing forward, Jenn took a completely wrong turn and ended up in Rose Square, where she noticed two young people chit chatting. A guy with a baseball cap white a light tan outfit was talking with a black-haired girl in glasses who had on a blue skirt and matching vest. She stood there a while until they finished their conversation, a minute later when they left. Apparently the two had been oblivious to the fact that she stood there and watched them. Oh to be invisible in a strange, new town. She shrugged and upon realizing that she had o idea where she was, made her way to the bulletin board, hoping to find directions. She confirmed her location and that of the Blacksmith's before setting off into the unknown once again. Finally, after circling around town a couple of times, she reached the Blacksmith's area. When she finally got there she saw the same boy pacing back and forth nervously outside the Blacksmith's place. He was only a few years older than herself she noted.

"Excuse me," she said, "But is this the Blacksmith's shop?"

The boy spun around, surprised by Jenn's sudden presence in the area.

"Uh, yeah." Pause, fidget, eye shift. Was this guy nervous? "I'm Grey." Another pause. Ok, so he was nervous, but why? "And this is Saibara's Shop" Grey said with a slightly uneasy and nervous tone. "So you must be that new girl, Jenn that everyone was talking about. It's nice to meet you, but I gotta go inside and keep working, else gramps will get angry at me…..again. See ya!"

Grey quickly rushed inside. He gave a heavy sigh and started talking to himself, unaware that Jenn was still outside and could hear him. This might or might not have something to do with the fact that a window was open.

"Man…I was only supposed to take a few minutes to deliver that package to the Mayor but I ended up getting side tracked. Then I met that pretty girl…"

"Grey, what the devil took you so long? I asked you to do one little thing and you end up dilly-dallying around when you know we have a lot of work to do!" he chastised.

"Hey look gramps I got it done didn't I? And anyways I was just being polite to a girl and talk for a bit instead of being rude and just ignoring her! Besides it's not like you say my work is good anyways. Ever time I try something you say it's crap and make me start over!" Grey retorted.

"Grey you know you don't have time to constantly hang around girls, and you don't know how easy you have it! In my day it was a lot harder to become a Blacksmith so count your blessings young man or…" Saibara started to threaten but was then cut off by an angry Grey.

"Or what?!? You going to send me out of this village and into the forest?!? Is that is?!? Man whatever, I'm tired of this crap. I can't live with this anymore. From now on I'm going to stay at the Inn. At least company there is somewhat decent and doesn't complain about every little thing I do imperfect. Later."

The door opened and slammed shut. Jenn just stood there, silently and motionless. She didn't know what to do. Grey looked up and noticed that she was still there. This made the situation a bit more uneasy than it already was.

"Uh…" he started, wrapping his hand behind his neck, "I guess you heard what happened."

"Yeah…"

"Well…I gotta go," Grey said as he walked off sulking.

Jenn felt bad for what had happened. It was her fault that Grey had to leave his grandpa's place and live at the Inn now. Still there was nothing she could do. She went into the Blacksmith's and looked around. It wasn't very large, and it was very cluttered.

"So you came back so soon eh Grey? Well………Oh, hello miss. How can I help you?"

"Um, well I'm the new girl in town, Jenn," said Jenn, trying to politely introduce herself.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Jenn. My name is Saibara. I'm the local Blacksmith. If your tools ever need to be upgraded then bring them to me. But I can't upgrade them until they reach the right level, and you have to have the right type of mineral for me to upgrade it. Also if you bring me some ores I might be able to make something interesting for you."

"Something interesting…?" Jenn reiterated, "Oh thank you for all that information but I need some help. You see, after I had cleared my ranch of weeds, twigs and small stones, I was trying to chop up a stump but my ax got stuck in it and I can't pull it out. I was wondering if someone…"

"Could pull it out for you?" he finished, "Certainly. I've got my hands full at the moment, but go to the Inn and ask the numbskull of a grandson of mine to get it out for you."

"Ah…" Jenn hesitated, "But what about what happened just now? You know, I guess talking to him outside made him a bit late and you both seems a bit unhappy. Besides, I don't want to impose or anything…"

"Don't worry about," Saibara said, "If it wasn't this it would have been something later. I always knew this would happen one day. We always get into quarrels, but its nothing serious."

"Still…" Jenn said looking down, somewhat apprehensive.

"Bah, you're just nervous around him aren't ya? Not that I can blame you."

Saibara took out a sheet of paper, scribbled something on it and folded it up. He handed it to Jenn and told her to give it to Grey. That should solve her equipment problems. Jenn thanked him and was about to leave when she asked one last question.

"I didn't see any restaurants or anything around here, where would I get some food?" she asked.

"Besides the Supermarket the only other place you can find a meal at is at the Inn. I'm assuming that you have next to nothing for money so you may also find some things while foraging in the forest, or you can fish in the nearby waters."

"Thanks again!" Jenn said as she exited out the door and made her way to the Inn.

Saibara smiled and went back to work. 

"Nice girl," he said to himself, "No wonder Grey stopped and talked to her. Heh, I would of done the same thing if I were 40 years younger."

As Jenn made her way to the Inn, she stopped by and stared at the church. It reminded her of those churches you would see in an old time movie. It was small and the steeple rose high above most other houses. She decided to go in and look around. Jenn knew she would have to make friends with the villagers, and thought that the first thing she should do befriend the local Pastor.

"Hello?" Jenn said as she walked in. There was no reply.

"Guess no one is here."

She saw a sign and read it: 'Out. Be back in 5 min. – Pastor Carter' Jenn sighed and looked around the church more. She saw a confessional booth on the other side of the church and decided to check it out. Inside it was small and cramped, but at least the seat was cushioned. She looked around some more when she heard someone else get in the other booth.

"Hey Pastor Carter! It's Kai, look I need to confess something to you," he said. "You see…"

"Huh? Hey, hey, hey! I'm not the Pastor," Jenn explained in a fluster. "Actually, I'm the new girl in town and I was just looking inside the confessional. Sorry to confuse you."

"The new girl?" Kai started," Aw, well that's even better! I've been meaning to meet you. Let's go outside the confessional so I can see you."

Why not? This person seemed to friendly, albeit a little too friendly, but it was better than most of the stares and rumors most people did instead. They both exited the booths, and turned to each other.

"Ah, so your Jenn! It's a honor to meet such a lady. So what the rumors say are true. You are cute!"

Oh boy. Was this guy real? Jenn could see right through his false flattery. But she didn't know what to say considering that she almost sat in on his confessional.

"Um…Thank you, I guess," Jenn said apprehensively.

"Oh a shy girl, eh? Well, I'll always keep you in my thoughts for being so honest. See, I live in a resort town far to the north of here, and only come by in Summer to run a Summer Lodge…"

Jenn had a flashback from the cruise ship.

"A resort area north of here?" Jenn asked quietly, "North Sea Beach City…"

"Yeah, that's is you ever been there?" Kai asked.

"No…"

"Well you probably just only heard of it. Maybe this summer, when I get to know you better, I'll take you there on a date. Look forward to it ok?" Kai said, all the while showing off his pearly whites. "I should really be going now. So until this summer then?"

With that Kai turned around and began to walk out leaving Jenn there, dumb founded. As he was getting ready to exit the church he met up with who Jenn assumed to be Pastor Carter. They greeted each other, naturally the Pastor asked Kai what brought him into the house of God and Kai told Pastor Carter what had happened. The Pastor looked over at Jenn and smiled then back to Kai. They said goodbye and parted. The Pastor walked up to Jenn and greeted her. His creamy hair was clean cut and short. It was accented by his black, priestly robes.

"Hi…" Jenn said.

"What brings you here my child?" he asked.

"Well," Jenn explained, "I just wanted to meet you. I figured that I should make friends with the villagers and I thought that the local priest would be the first person to start with."

Pastor Carter was touched with Jenn's words and effort. This girl was shipwrecked, with amnesia, and she instead of trying to find out who she is, she helps a village in distress. She had a chance to listen into other people's life problems and exploit them, but doesn't. Now she is making and honest attempt to get along and live here. Does this stranger truly care that much for people she doesn't even know? Truly, she had been sent by angels, or God himself to save the village. Pastor Carter smiled greatly.

"Then consider myself a friend of yours. If you ever need any spiritual guidance or healing, then please stop by the church anytime," he said, "Oh and you mentioned you were trying to meet people. Well it just so happens, I was having a chat with a nice young man by the name of Cliff. He comes from the city. It's getting late so he went to the Inn. You should meet him."

"I was going to the Inn anyway, so I suppose that is good," Jenn said, "uh…is this Cliff person like the last guy."

"Not at all," the pastor half said, half laugh, "Cliff is a friendly soul, but not overly friendly if you know what I mean. And really, Kai isn't that bad. He may have his cheesy pick up lines, but he is a good boy. I'm sure that once he finds the right one that there is no changing his mind."

"Ok then," said Jenn as she walked out of the church, "I'll be sure to keep those things in mind. Thanks for your advice!"

It _was _getting the late. The sky was already changing colors. Jenn continued on to the Inn. On the way there she noticed that there was a cut on her arm that was bleeding. All the excitement from today must have drew her attention away from it. Jenn decided to visit the clinic to get it bandaged. She might as well, it's not like she could just leave the cut there to scab up, and anyway the clinic was along the way of the Inn.

"Hello?" Jenn greeted as she walked into the clinic.

The clinic, like everything else in this town, was also small, but very clean and sterile looking. Everything was organized and neatly arranged in its proper place.

"Hello," someone said back.

Jenn looked forwards and saw a young girl in a frilly, old fashioned nurse dress. Her hair was dark brown, and cut shot like a boy. She was only a couple of years older than Jenn it seemed.

"My name is Elli," she said, "You must be the new girl in town…Jenn right?"

Jenn nodded. No need for introductions when gossip spreads faster than STDs.

"How can I help you today Jenn?" Elli asked sweetly.

"Uh…well see my arm…" Jenn started.

"Oh my goodness, that looks like a nasty cut." Elli interrupted. 

She rushed over and immediately examined it. After doing a little of this and a little of that, she then went into another room and was talking with someone else about a patient (Jenn) with a bad arm injury. A few moments later she walked out with a doctor. He was a tall man, and much older than Jenn. The guy looked like your stereotypical doctor down the last detail. He had a poker face but Jenn could tell that he was really kind. He also examined her wound, then asked if it hurt.

"Just a bit," she replied, "I suppose I should be more careful with those tools though."

There was a bit of a pause.

"I'm glad that you're taking care of yourself," the Doctor said while putting anti-septic medicine on the cut. 

He then wiped it clean and bandaged it. Jenn thanked both Elli and Doctor for their help, and the Doctor said it was their job. Hopefully now Jenn could get to the Inn without anymore distractions. Jenn exited, and rounded the curb and headed for the Inn. She could already hear the music playing and smell the food cooking. She headed inside only to find out that several unfamiliar faces were now staring at her.

"Welcome to Mineral Town's Inn!" exclaimed a chipper, young, red-headed girl sporting a tight braid and a pair of overalls similar to Jenn's. "My name is Ann and I run the Inn. My father, Doug, is the owner. Please relax and take a seat."

"Thank you."

"You must be that new girl who washed up on shore, Jenn?" Ann questioned.

"That's right," Jenn answered and nodded.

"Well, like I said before, please make yourself comfortable. Take a seat, and if you want, I'll take your order for something!"

Jenn looked around some more. In the corner of the Inn she saw a red haired man gesturing for her to come over to where he was. He was sitting with a younger man in his early twenties, dressed in hunting attire. The younger man had long brown hair tied back in a messy ponytail. What was it with this town and brunettes? Jenn strolled over to where they were and waited for them to say something.

"Ah, Miss Jenn," said the red-haired man, "It is a pleasure to finally meet you,"

"The feeling is mutual," she replied. Who was this guy again? Mid forties, bright red bush of hair on his scalp with matching mustache. 

"So I've heard that you're taking over the ranch, and permanently no less. If there is something that we can help with, then please ask. Oh, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Doug, the owner of this fine establishment. You've already met my daughter Ann, and this person here is Cliff."

"Hi," Cliff said enthusiastically with a slight nod.

"Oh, so your Cliff?" Jenn inquired, "Pastor Carter told me about you and said I should try and be your friend."

"Ah, so the pastor already put in a good word for you," Doug joked while nudging Cliff in a suggestive manner, "You lucky dog, you already have a head start compared to all the other guys."

"He knock it off," Cliff said, "Well Jenn I'm flattered that the priest said we should get to know each other a be friends. Maybe later we could hang out sometime?"

"Sounds great!" Jenn answered happily.

Doug took this opportunity to ask Jenn a question.

"So Jenn, now that you know this great guy the pastor told you about, what do you think of him?"

Jenn hadn't much time to think so she had to answer fast. The first thing that popped in her head was that she really didn't know him and needed more time to get to know him, but instead she ended up blurting something else out.

"Well, he's cute."

"Well now!" Doug said, "Did you hear that folks?"

Doug continued to tease Cliff, while Cliff turned shades of red. Jenn however, turned to see Grey walking down the stairs of the Inn. His presence caught her attention and she remember the note Saibara asked her to give to him, and the original reason she had come into town in the first place.

"Uh, hey Grey!" she called out as she lept up from the table and ran towards him.

"Well dang," commented Doug, "Didn't that just ruin this special moment…"

Cliff glared at him. Grey glanced and froze when he saw Jenn.

"Uh…hi Jenn…" he replied.

"Sorry about earlier. I guess it is kind of my fault that you and your grandfather got into an argument. I feel kind of bad about it…" Jenn explained.

"Well don't. So what did you come here for? To apologize?" he questioned.

"After you left I went in and talked with him for a while, and when I left he asked that I give this note," Jenn said while handing him the slip of paper.

Grey unfolded it and read the contents to himself:

__

Grey – 

This nice young lady came to the shop after our argument seeking help. It seems that she tried to chop a stump with her ax only to end up getting it stuck. Be a good boy and help her. Besides, I know your not one to leave a pretty girl in trouble. 

Saibara

PS – I suppose it is natural for boys your age to be looking, and considering that this girl seems so nice, I don't mind now. Just don't make a normal habit of this.

PPS – Even though you have decided to take up residence elsewhere I fully expect you to come to work as normal.

Grey sighed heavily. It was typical of his grandfather to pull something like this. He was still angry but what else could he do? He folded up the note and put in back in his pocket. He took his cap off briefly and wiped his forehead. Afterward he placed the cap back on his head.

"Alright Jenn," he said, "I'll help you get that ax unstuck."

"Thanks a lot!" she chirped with a big smile on face.

As they exited together a few drunkards made a few snide comments about Grey and his 'companion'. He made sure to remember everyone of them to give them holy hell later. Jenn had also heard the comments. These people had no class what so ever, but then again, could you expect class from these type of people? As she and Grey walked "sort of" together towards the farm she could see more gossip running around town.

"Don't these people have other things to do than gossip?" she asked herself a bit remorsefully.

"Not exactly…" Grey answered, "But then again what else are they going to do? They don't have near as many modern comforts as city dwellers."

"I suppose so, I guess it will just take time for me to get used to this." 

"It'll probably become your main source of news…"

Jenn pondered about this for a while. This town WAS really small if it relied on the old fashioned gossip system to get news around. The two got to Jenn's ranch and she pointed out where her ax was. Grey gripped the handle and with one mighty heave, pulled the ax out.

"This tool isn't meant for cutting up stumps like this," Grey explained. "It was made just to chop up branches. I see you have cleared most of your field except for the large stuff. If you want to get rid of everything else you'll need to upgrade your tools. Your ax and hammer are at the right level so as soon as you get some money and the right ores you can go to Gramps' shop and have him fix them up for you. Besides, by the way the ax was stuck in the stump. It looks like you were swinging it wrong."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Grey demonstrated by taking a giant and swift swing right to the middle of the stump. CRACK! The stump was spilt into several small pieces of wood now. Jenn's facial expression was that of awe: O.O

"Woah…."

"Um…"he started a bit nervously, "I suggest you shouldn't try that, otherwise your tool will get stuck again."

Jenn nodded. She was still amazed. This guy had already made it clear that her ax had to be upgraded first before she could chop tree stumps. But just a few seconds ago he just blasted the thing away with one hit. She made a mental note to always stay on this guy's good side.

"Thank you again for your help!"

"Yeah, whatever…" he replied nonchalantly. 

Both of their stomachs growl. They were both embarrassed and had their face turn red. Jenn hadn't eaten anything all day and worked really hard so she was starving.

"Hey, buy you dinner?" Jenn offered. "For the help you gave me. I'll buy us both a nice meal at the Inn. Come on!"

Before Grey had anytime to accept or reject Jenn's offer, he found his hand in hers, and was being pulled along whether he wanted to or not. He gave a bit of resistance at first but gave up after a while and just went along. 'This girl is trouble where ever she goes,' he thought to himself. When they got just to the outskirts of the Inn she dropped his hand and ran straight up to the Inn's door. Grey sighed and meandered over there slowly as she waited for him. They went in together and Grey sat down at a nearby table. Jenn went over to Ann and told her that she would be paying for two dinners. Afterwards she went to the same table as Grey at sat down. She could hear more snide comments flying around. It was pissing her off.

"Ugh would you people please stop it!" she yelled. "Honestly how ruder can get? I actually thought this town had some tact, but clearly I was mistaken! And if you have something to say, then please say it in my face instead of behind my back."

If that didn't add fuel to the proverbial fire, nothing did. Luckily, a familiar voice came to her aid.

"Yeah guys, back off," Cliff said defensively. "She is new and we should treat her nicely.

Jenn smiled. The pastor was right about Cliff.

"Cliff why don't you join us?"

Cliff shrugged and strolled over to their table and took a seat. Ann brought out Grey's and Jenn's meals, and Cliff's drink he had ordered before hand. Jenn asked Ann to sit down and talk with them after she was done working or whenever she got a break. Ann agreed and a few moments later, she joined them. The group chatted (as much as Grey can chat :P) and after a hearty meal, Jenn exited the Inn and headed for her ranch, while the other 3 went upstairs to their rooms. Jenn was glad that she made new friends. Despite Grey's gruff and grunt outward appearance, he wasn't so bad. Cliff was as nice as Pastor Carter had said. Ann was so cheerful it hard to not get along with her, and she cooked great! Jenn had a feeling that she could settle down well in this town. 

When she got back to her ranch she saw a puppy wandering outside her house. She picked it up and it was very friendly towards her. It looked like it was lost or abandoned. Jenn decided to take the little guy in and raise it for herself. A dog could be very useful on the farm after all. She brought the puppy inside and played with it. Jenn decided to name him Blue. It was a bit unoriginal, but hey she liked it. When Jenn was done playing with her puppy she noticed that the house was completely fixed up. Inside was a lot different too. Everything was pink. EVERYTHING. They even gave her a mirror. There was a note on top of her pink toolbox.

__

'Dear Jenn,

I bet your wondering how all this stuff got here? Well we thought it was mighty nice of a stranger to come and put this town back on its feet, so we wanted to do something nice back. While you were gone I had my daughter and son fix up your house a tad bit and even furnished it! Now there is no need to thank us, in fact we should thank you! Try your hardest and never give up!

Best of Luck,

Lillia, Caretaker of the Chicken Farm.'

"Well that was certainly nice of them, Don't you think Blue?"

The puppy just stared blankly at her.

"I'll have to thank them tomorrow," Jenn said as she was preparing herself for bed.

*****

Jenn was up and ready by 6 am the next morning. Farm life really wasn't as bad as most people think. She adjusted the straps to her overalls and then brushed her blond hair. Her blue eyes twinkled in her reflection in the mirror. Jenn just knew something exciting was going to happen today, but what? Everything was so new to her, and even if it was simple, it was an adventure! Something you would only read about in books or play in a video game, and she was the main character. Best of all, she was alone. She could do what she wanted without fear of hurting someone else's feelings or living up to a set standard.

"Today is going to be a great day!" Jenn exclaimed to herself.

She stretched a bit to loosen her muscles, then picked up Blue and set him outside, near her house. Jenn put up her ax and hammer and brought her hoe outside. She hoed several 6 x 2 rows in front of her house. Even if she wasn't going to plant anything in them yet, it was nice to have tilled ground prepared. Afterwards Jenn headed for the mountains to collect things for shipping. Money would probably be tight for the rest of this month because she was just starting to farm. Jenn saw some Bamboo Shoots, Blue Grass and Moon Drop flowers, however she couldn't fit all of them in her rucksack. She picked up one Blue Grass and one Bamboo shoot and shipped them. Jenn decided to go back and get one more of each so she could get some money. Once Jenn had put them in her rucksack, she decided to go explore town again before going back to ship them.

Jenn made her way to Chicken Lil's farm, and notices a young man and girl arguing. The guy seemed normal, orange hair, glasses, blue eyes, and attire fit for running a chicken farm, but the girl…there was something new. Jenn got the feeling that it was definitely her that decorated her little hut. The girl was shot, with extremely long, flowing, _pink_ hair. Her eyes were red. Literally. Not red as in you're tired, or red as in there is something in you're eye, or red as in you're high, but RED. The little colored part around her pupil that is normally blue, brown or green was _red_. Suddenly the girl screamed "I hate you!" and ran off into the mountains, past Jenn. Jenn was briefly befuddled by the events and strolled into the Chicken farm, looking at the guy who now had a sad and worried expression on his face.

"I must have really bad timing…" Jenn whispered to herself.

The guy looked up at Jenn, and began to speak.

"Oh hello, you must be Jenn if I'm not mistaken. My name is Rick, and I was just talking with my sister, Popuri, who just ran off. If I go after her, we will end up arguing again, so could you please get her and bring her back?"

Jenn nodded. "Sure, I'll bring her back to you."

Yet another group of people who knew her and her story before she could talk to them. It'll just be something she would have to get used to. Jenn exited the Chicken farm and went into the mountains taking the nearby path Popuri did. Once she got to the 4 way fork Jenn could see Popuri quietly sobbing by the waterfall. Jenn slowly strolled to where she was and tried to comfort her.

"Popuri?" she asked.

"Oh hello. You must be that new girl. I'm Popuri. I'm sorry you saw us fight like that. Sometimes Rick just makes me so angry. One of our chickens died. It's name was Pon. It was my favorite hen. Rick said it was my fault because I forgot to put it back in the pen."

"It's alright Popuri. I know your upset about the chicken, but Rick is very concerned about you. Listen why don't we go back to your house? Rick really is very worried about you. That's why he sent me here to get you. I promise I'm not lying ether, ok?

After a few more sobs and sniffles, Popuri managed to mutter 'Ok'. Jenn led her back to the Chicken Farm, and they went inside Popuri's house. Both her mother and Rick turned around as she walked in and breathed a sigh of relief that she was ok. Popuri thanked Jenn for talking with her then ran up into her room.

"Thank you for brining my daughter back to us, and I'm sorry we put you through all that trouble. My name is Lillia and I own this place," said another pink haired lady. Pin hai must run in the family Jenn supposed.

"It was no trouble at all," replied Jenn "actually, I came here to thank you for fixing up my house. It would have taken me a long time to fix it up the way it is now, especially with all the work I have to do. I know the note said I didn't have to thank you, but I wanted to."

Jenn, Lillia, And Rick talked for some time about a lot of different. Eventually Popuri came downstairs and joined the discussion. Jenn really liked this family a lot and was glad she decided to help Mineral Village. All the people here were so great. It felt refreshing to be in the country, surround by a small, tight-knit community. It wasn't long though before Jenn had to leave. There were other things she still needed to do.

She left Chicken Lil's farm and made her way to the Supermarket. As she stepped inside she could see the Doctor saying he needed something and he would pay for it later. He turned and as he left gave a nod to Jenn who in turn nodded back. A woman with dirty blond hair and a stern look came out from an adjacent door and began chastising him.

"Jeff if you keep selling things on credit we will go bankrupt! You can't keep doing this. You're such a pushover," the lady yelled.

"I'm sorry Sasha," Jeff replied sadly. Jeff looked absolutely pathetic. He looked like he barely weighed 100 pounds and that he would have sporadic asthma attacks.

Sasha turned and left the supermarket to chase after Doctor. Jenn took another step into the building when a person from behind walked around her and came in.

"Hey Jeff!"

"Oh…hi Duke," Jeff said reluctantly.

Duke, and man that seemed to be in his late forties had streaks of white embedded in black, walked up to one of the shelves. He picked up something and turned to Jeff.

"I need on of these, I'll pay you later, ok?"

"uh…ok…"

As Duke left to go back to his winery, he was stopped by Jenn.

"What's the matter?" he asked slightly confused.

"You should pay," Jenn replied.

Duke gave a hearty laugh. "Didn't you hear? Jeff said it was ok."

"You should pay when you buy things Duke," commented a girl who had came out of the same room Sasha had a few minutes ago.

"Uh oh…I can't get away from you, can I Karen?" replied Duke as he reluctantly forked over the money for what he was going buy.

Duke left and Karen gave Jenn a warm smile. She introduced herself and welcomed Jenn to Mineral Village. Karen was about the same age as Jenn and hair long dity blond hair like Sasha. Her purple vest showed Jenn that this girl like to keep up with trendy fashions. After introductions, Karen went back into the room from which she came. Jenn walked up to the center table and examined the seeds their. After checking prices and seeing how much money she had left Jenn decided to buy a couple of Turnip seeds and a couple of Potato seeds. She gave her money directly to Jeff and left the market. Outside she could see Sasha still talking with the Doctor. When Sasha finally left him alone Jenn approached him.

"Hi Doctor!" Jenn greeted cheerily.

"Oh, hello Jenn. How is that arm of yours doing?" he asked in a monotone voice.

"It's a lot better now thanks to you," she replied, "so what are you doing anyways?"

"I'm collecting things I need to make Bodigizer and other medicine. But I still need some Blue Grass from the mountains. I won't be able to get any until Wednesday though."

"Blue Grass…" Jenn said reaching into her rucksack, "that's this stuff right?" Jenn pulled out some blue-ish herb she had picked earlier and handed it to the Doctor. "You can have it if you want, I don't really need it…"

"Thank you very much Jenn. This helps a lot," he said smiling, while going back into clinic.

Jenn still had some time to kill and thought about going to Library. She could read up on how to do things she may have to do on her ranch, like building a fence or something else, so it would be a good idea to go there and study for a bit. When she entered the Library she saw the girl that Grey was talking to before talk to herself. The girl whirled around and was a bit surprised to her.

"Hello, my name is Mary," she greeted.

"I'm Jenn. I came to read some books."

Mary gave her a big smile. "Well there are plenty of books on the shelves, so help yourself. You can't checkout any books though."

Jenn thanked her and started panning the massive shelves for books about farming and anything else that might be just a little bit helpful later. She read the books and studied them for quite some time. After a while she went to the upstairs floor to find more books. As she descended form the stairs she saw Grey walking in and greet Mary. Grey looked up and greeted her as well.

"Hello Grey. I was just reading a bit on how to run my farm. Thanks again for helping me yesterday."

"Don't mention it," Grey answered as he went over to one of the bottom bookshelves. 

"Mary, I have to go and work now, but there are still some books I want to read so I'll probably come back tomorrow ok? Thanks for letting me read these books, they were very useful."

"You're very welcome Jenn, I'm just glad that somebody else appreciates these books as much as I do."

"Oh here," Jenn said as she opened her rucksack," I don't know if you like these or not…but you can have this Bamboo Shoot if you want." She offered a Bamboo Shoot to May, who accepted it with a slight blush creeping on he cheeks.

"Oh thank you. But Can't I really keep it?" Mary questioned while blushing a bit.

" 'Course you can," Jenn replied.

She exited the Library and went straight back to her ranch. Jenn planted the seeds she had bought then filled her watering canister with water and watered them. A few weeds have grown back and Jenn pulled those out before whistling for her puppy and going inside. She set Blue down near the table and cleaned herself up, preparing for nighttime. After watching the local weather forecast, Jenn headed for bed. She could sleep a lot easier now know all those people she met in town would be her friends in the future and there to support through hard times.


	3. Tea Time for Two

~~~~~~

Author's Notes: Lots of new things in this update! And I know that the Harvest Sprites don't REALLY do everything that I made them do, but it's my fanfic and I can make them do that if I want to :P Anyways, if we play by the rules It would take forever to get some things done. 

Note Added after entire completion of the spring chapter: I realize that updating things by seasons would not be a feasible thing to do, just from the sheer volume and size of the chapter (14 pages, MS Word). x_x Of course the prologue will still stay long, just because it is the prologue. :P

~~~~~~

Part 2 – Spring, Yr1: Tea Time For Two

Jenn wiped her forehead with her sleeve to remove the sweat as she finished planting the last bit of Potato seeds. It was a little past noon, and most people would find it odd that it would take her all morning to sow a few bags of seeds, however Jenn took a different approach at planting them then most other people. She planted each individual seed instead of just throwing them all around her in hopes that they would land on fertile soil. This way she could maximize her profits gained by each piece of produce, even if it took more maintenance. Thanks to this method Jenn had an average amount of money and was able to live on more than just the basics. She had even gotten her rucksack upgraded once. So far things were going great. Just yesterday she met Greg on the pier, early in the morning. He had been kind enough to give her a fishing rod, but Jenn couldn't bare to tell him that she didn't know how to fish. She had even gotten a horse from Barley and May, but it was only temporary. Jenn would have to take care of it and when it grows up, Barley would take it back. Jenn used the last drops of water in her pink watering can to water the seeds and then headed for the mountains. 

She began to pick up some bamboo shoots and blue grass when she could here a small voice crying. Curious as to what this could be, Jenn rounded the corner of the mountains and headed up to the lake. She saw a small sprite, clad in bright green wear, being confronted by a snake. The sprite was on its back, trembling in fear at the creature. It tried to back away slowly, but as it did the snake advanced forward. 

"Brothers! Help me, budum!" the thing cried.

Jenn rushed forward and stepped between the snake and sprite. She shooed the creature away with her hands into the nearby forest then turned to the sprite. It looked at her with fear it his eyes. She could see that the little guy was equally afraid of her. Jenn also noticed that he had a few minor cuts and bruises on him, but otherwise, was ok. She gave it a relieving smile and picked up the sprite, cradling it in her arms, and made her way back to her house.

"Where are you taking me, budum?" it questioned.

"I'm taking you to my house at my ranch. Once we get there I'm going to take care of all those scraps and bruises you have," she answered.

"Thank you….budum," it replied, still shaking, "My name is Timid."

They had arrived at Jenn's house and were now inside. Jenn set Timid down on her bed lightly and sifted through the junk in her toolbox for bandages and hydrogen peroxide. She began to apply to the medicine to him and decided to strike up a nice conversation.

"Well Timid, My name is Jenn. You've probably already heard, but I'm the shipwrecked girl. What were you doing in the forest anyway? And what exactly are you?"

"Shipwrecked, budum? That's sounds scary," he started, "But I'm a Harvest Sprite budum, just like my 6 brothers. When people need help with something, they ask us for help, budum, and if we like them, we help them, budum, unless it's spring, because we must go to the tea parties."

"So I guess if things ever get too busy for me I could ask you little guys for help, as long as it's not spring?"

Timid nodded and continued his explain, "I was in the forest budum, because I was looking for something to give to my brother. I forgot about Bold's birthday, budum. But I was lucky because it rained for the last few days, budum, and we can't go outside to celebrate his birthday on a rainy day, budum."

"Why didn't you just have a party inside?"

"Harvest Sprites must celebrate with their forest friends, budum. And they aren't allowed inside the house, budum."

"Well, that should do it!," Jenn said putting on the last Bandaid, "Why don't we go to the supermarket and get a present for your brother instead of one from out in the forest? We can even wrap it."

"Really?!?" Timid exclaimed, "Even flour?!? Harvest Sprites love flour, budum."

"Uh…sure," Jenn said. 

Jenn pondered for a bit why they would like flour, but then shrugged it off. Timid hopped onto her shoulder and decided to ride the entire trip to the supermarket. Most of the villagers smiled when they saw Timid riding along on Jenn's shoulder. Before now she didn't even realize that they existed, but the Harvest Sprites seemed to be on good terms with all of the villagers. When they entered the supermarket, Timid bounded off of her and dashed to the cooking counter. Jenn bought two packages of flour, one from her and one from Timid, to give to Bold. She wrapped them and let Timid lead her to the Harvest Sprites hut, which was just behind the church. She was a bit surprised she never noticed it before. The hut itself was rather small and she had to duck a bit to get inside.

"Brothers, I'm home budum!" Timid exclaimed, "I have a present for Bold! Sorry it rained on your birthday and afterwards, budum and that this is late, but I know you will like it, budum."

"Thank you Timid, budum," said the purple sprite as he accepted the gift.

Bold carefully unwrapped the present and opened the lid. Several "oooohs" and "aaaahhhss" and even a few gasp of air could be heard when the sprites had seen the gift.

"Here is one from me too," Jenn said handing over her gift.

There was even more amazement as they learned of the second gift of flour. Bold thanked Jenn ad Timid a few more times for their gracious gift, and then asked Timid where he had been all day. Timid had explained the events of the day and how Jenn had helped him in the forest. As a token of their appreciation, the Harvest Sprites had offered to let Jenn join the tea party, even though she didn't bring a present for all of them.

"I'd really like to join, but I'm kinda busy with work you see…" she explained.

"At least take some relaxation tea leaves, budum," Chef offered.

"But, where can I put them?"

"You don't have a cabinet, or refrigerator, budum?" Staid asked.

"I haven't got the money or lumber to upgrade my house yet," Jenn replied, "I'm just trying to build up some money to get a few chickens and what not…"

"But you must have some tea!" Hoggy insisted.

"We will help you, budum," said Nappy, "tomorrow, after the festival, expect a surprise. Even if it means we have to miss tomorrow's tea party."

"Oh you really don't have to, I don't want to burden you with anything….but…this village has festivals?" Jenn questioned.

"Yes, it has several, budum," Aqua explained, "You should ask the villagers about it, budum."

It wasn't much longer before Jenn had to leave. As she strolled home she wondered what kind of festivals this village had. She was in Rose Square when Karen has spotted her and ran up to Jenn.

"Hey Jenn, You know the Goddess Festival is tomorrow, right? All the girls our age are suppose to go and dance here tomorrow. Would you like me to teach you the dance?"

"Uh, sure…I guess," Jenn replied.

They made their way to Jenn's ranch and immediately began practicing when they got there. Karen was a great dance and made it seem so easy to duplicate, however Jenn couldn't keep up at first. Karen's dance move where too graceful and Jenn had some difficulty duplicating them.

"The best thing to do," Karen advised, "Is to keep a count on the movements, like this…"

She demonstrated to Jenn an easy tip that would come in handy :

"1…2…3(bow)…1…2…3(step)…1…2…3(twirl)…1…2…3(walk backwards)…1…2…3(bow)…1…2…3(step)…1…2…3(twirl)…1…2…3(walk forwards) And repeated. Now you try it again."

At a much slower pace, Jenn began to dance. This time she had only a few mistakes, but had the general hang of the dance. She practiced a few more times until she got it down perfect. Then she and Karen danced side by side so that Jenn could get the feel of performing along side the other girls. They kept practicing until 6 o'clock. Zack even commented on how well Jenn did when he was picking up the produce.

"You learn pretty fast," Karen said, "The festival starts at 10 am, so don't be late. Also you'll need to wear the Goddess outfit."

"But I don't have one of those," said Jenn.

"No problem, I'll take care of that too. Gotz used to have a daughter but she died at a young age. I'll just ask him if you can use hers. I'm curious though, who are you going with?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Jenn asked, "I didn't even know there was a festival tomorrow until today."

"Well normally guys that like you will ask if they can escort you to the dance. Rick asked me again this year. So…I… guess… nobody …asked… you… huh? Well that's ok, I mean the important thing about the festival is to appreciate that Spring has finally come. I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Karen said leaving the ranch.

Jenn waved goodbye to Karen and thanked her for her help, until Karen was out of sight. She walked back into her house saying something to herself.

"I guess…the people here don't like me yet. If it wasn't for Karen or the Sprites, I wouldn't have known anything about it and totally missed out on the party. Oh well, … like I need an escort to a dance anyway." 

The morning Jenn was up at her pre-usual time of 6 o'clock. She scarffed up her breakfast and let her puppy outside to run around and play. A batch of seeds she planted a few days ago had sprouted. Jenn filled up her water can by the fishpond and watered the few crop fields she had. It was around 7 now, and she could see Gotz coming towards her with a box in his hands.

"Karen told me that you needed a goddess costume, so I came here to give you the one my daughter had when she was alive. The festival starts in a few hours so you better hurry and change, you won't be able to run in the outfit."

"Thank you very much Gotz," Jenn said as she accepted the gift.

She quickly changed into the outfit and peered at herself in her mirror. Jenn made a few minor adjustments with her hair and the location of the flowers then headed off for Rose Square. It took her a lot longer than it normally took her to get there since she couldn't run like she normally did. The dress gave little room for movement and she was afraid she might bit late, but it was all in her head. Jenn got there at 10 o'clock on the dot and was even greeted by the Mayor.

"Why Miss Jenn, I'm glad to see that you would wish to participate in our local festivals. You look absolutely stunning in your outfit, and I'm surprised you don't have an escort. I'm sure all those young men will be regretting then didn't ask you now!" he laughed.

"Mayor…I didn't even realize until last night there was a festival. No one bothered to tell me about it except for Karen."

"Really? That's a shame, I thought that some of the villagers would have been more friendly than that. They probably got so excited about the festival that they forgot to mention it to you. Fret not Miss Jenn, from now on I'll remind you the day before each festival of the event. If not me, then Barley or Zack will since they also host a couple of festivals as well. Now, please do enjoy the festival. "

Jenn came in the square slightly nervous and shy. She wasn't exactly used to wearing such flashy outfits and felt a bit silly. She sat down on one of the empty benches and looked around. She could see all the girls participating in the festival (besides herself) huddled in one corner talking amongst themselves.

"Cliff invited me this year," Ann said, " I'm so excited, after the festival we are going to the Goddess Pond and talk…"

"Yeah sure, just talk," Karen cut her off slyly.

"Well what about you Karen?" Popuri interjected, "Aren't you going somewhere with my brother afterwards too?"

"We are going to the beach," Karen replied with a slight blush.

"What about you two?" Popuri asked at Elli and Mary.

"uh…," Mary started shyly, "Well, Gray invited me to go to Mother's Hill flower garden with him afterwards…"

"And I'm going to the Lake with Doctor when the festival is finished as well," finished Elli.

"Kai isn't here since its not Summer," Popuri explained with a frown, "I came alone again. Even if he was here, Rick would chase him away with a baseball bat so I'm kinda stuck. But at least when I get home, mom always has a fresh batch of cookies and hot milk ready for me. That always brightens up my day."

Jenn sighed heavily. There would be nothing for her to do after this party except go home. When she got home what did she have to look forward to? Work. Some how the glamour of taking over a ranch had faded when everyone around you didn't want to talk with you or even see you unless you made a specific effort to talk with them. She wondered what her old home life used to be like. What were her parents like? Were they worried about her? Were they looking for her? Did she even have parents? What if she was alone were she used to live as well? What about her friends? All these questions and many more raced through her head, that she had hardly realized that it was time for the main attraction.

"Helloooo? Jenn? It's time to dance!" Ann said with an intent look on her face as she waved her hand in front of Jenn.

Jenn snapped back to reality. She effortlessly stood and got into position. She stood in the front line, between Ann and Karen, at the very center of the dance and everyone's attention. As the dance began, her thoughts wandered back to those same questions. As if she were in a trance, she performed with 100% accuracy, not making a single mistake. While Jenn's mind was in a far away place trying to find out who she was, she failed to notice that she had caught the eye of a few bachelors. From underneath his hat Grey took a few peeks in her directions, Rick pretended to watch Karen and Popuri, but clearly his eyes wandered. Doctor gave a few glances from the corner of his eyes every now and then, and Cliff flat out stared with a wry smile on his face. When the dance was over Jenn blinked and realized what had happened. Everyone clapped and cheered. Several villagers had given her compliments on how well she performed. They continued to talk and gossip but ended up discluding her from any conversation because she had no idea what they were talking about. Jenn sat back down on the bench and watched everyone have fun, except for her. At one point Cliff had approached at commented on what a good job she did, only to be pulled away a few moments later by Doug and Ann. It was 6 o'clock now. Jenn was standing alone in the square. Everyone else had left, and all the girls had been escorted somewhere else for the evening, with the exception of Popuri, who was skipping home to Milk and Cookies. She took the silly flower crown off her head and began the slow trip home in her goddess outfit.

"I guess I'm still a stranger…," she muttered to herself silently as she walked home.

Jenn didn't notice it, but from one of the bushed behind the bench she sat in popped out a sprite small figure. Timid was given the job of watching Jenn the entire day since he would be to afraid to do the things that needed to be done for Jenn's house. He had seen and heard everything than Jenn had gone through that day. He got out from his hiding place and stood briefly in the square for a few second then decided to follow Jenn from a distance at a slow pace.

"Poor Jenn, budum," he whispered to himself, "always alone…"

Jenn had just past the poultry farm, the smell of cookies filled the air, when she heard a tiny voice call out to her.

"Jenn! Budum, wait for me!"

She spun around to find the tiny figure of Timid rush to her. He jumped into her arms and Jenn greeted him with a smile and a giggle.

"You were great at the festival, budum."

"Oh, you were watching? Thanks, but I still get the feeling that not everyone trust me here."

"I think some of the boys like you, budum."

"Don't be silly, I hardly know them."

"You weren't paying attention, but I saw, budum. Everyone else saw too, budum. The girls are going to get jealous of you, budum."

"Nobody even bothered talking to me, except for Cliff, who got side tracked by Doug and Ann. I don't even think that he would have bothered talking to me if there was someone else I was with. It felt like more of a sympathetic meeting."

"You should marry someone so your not always alone, budum," Timid blurted out of the blue.

Jenn was a bit startled by his statement and didn't know what to say. She quickly recovered by saying that she was too busy for romance and had to fix the ranch up. She set Timid on her shoulder and finished her way home. When she got there she was shock. Her house was…BIGGER, A lot bigger. It was completely fixed up and everything. Before she only had a little shanty of a home, but now it was a full sized house. The six remaining brother's jumped out from various locations screaming 'SURPRISE, SURPRISE!'

Inside, everything was much more spacious. Things that were left unpacked in crates were now decorating her house. She had a kitchen, a cabinet… a table! The Harvest Sprites quickly ran inside and began preparations for a tea party in Jenn's newly renovated house. Jenn went over to her toolbox to put up her watering can she was carrying with her before to find that it was overly filled with seeds for each season. There were at least a hundred of each seed type: pineapples, carrots, potatoes, onions, corn, turnips, eggplants, even flowers! Jenn almost started to cry when she could smell a sweet aroma. It completely relaxed her, and she took a big whiff of the smell. She went over to her new dinner table and sat down with the sprites, who needed pillows to reach the top of the table.

"How can I ever thank you for all your help?" she asked gratefully.

"By drinking tea with us, budum," replied Hoggy and Chef simultaneously.

Jenn gave off her trade mark smile and raised her teacup to the Sprites.

"Then to good times, and great friends," she toasted.

That night Jenn slept more soundly than any other night in her life. Who needed the villagers to play the good neighbor role? Who needed true love to come knocking at her doorstep? Who needed a past life and its memories when you had the Harvest Sprites looking out for you?


	4. Forgotton Yesterdays Bring New Tomorrows

Part 2 – Spring, Yr1: Forgotten Yesterdays bring New Tomorrows

Almost a week had passed by since the Goddess Festival. Thanks to all the seeds the Harvest Sprites had given her, Jenn was making a killing on produce shipped. She already sent all the turnips grown, the potatoes were ripe for picking any day now, and it would only take, say the next weekend, before the cucumbers were ripe as well. Jenn made sure to visit the Sprites regularly and bring them gifts. She made it to their Tea Parties just about every day. 

With this new money, Jenn was finally able to get all the things done she needed to do. Gotz was working on remodeling the Chicken coop so Jenn could get more livestock. Afterwards she would ask him to work on the Sheep and Cow barn. At the super market, Jenn got her rucksack upgraded again and even bought a basket. She decided to get her tools upgraded next. Taking her new basket and rucksack with her, Jenn headed for the mines near the goddess waterfall. Inside she began to dig up dirt using her plow. It wasn't long before she found some kind of strange red berry in the ground. Jenn didn't know why, but instinctively, she ate it without second thought. Jenn felts renewed and stronger than before. She took on her task more vigorously now. She was finding ores rapidly and putting the useful ones in her basket. Jenn had descended a few floors into the cave, when she came across Grey.

"Oh, hello Grey. What are you doing here?" she asked as she was climbing down the latter.

"Ah, hi Jenn," Grey said looking up at her, "I'm looking for some silver ore."

"What a coincidence, I'm looking for ore to upgrade my tools with. If I find any silver ore, I'll give you some."

"So you're already upgrading your tools?" He started, "It seems like it was yesterday that you first came here."

Grey returned to digging and searching for ores nonchalantly. He peeked at Jenn from the corner of his eye and continued to work.

"Well I have only been here a few weeks. And I have the Harvest Sprites to thank for my early success. I would probably still be struggling if it wasn't for them…"

Jenn readied her hoe and then with a swift swing, dug into the earth in front of her.

"Hm.. Junk ore."

She dug again for a few times and came up with nothing. 

"It's not as easy as it sounds, huh?" Grey asked from his corner of the mine.

"Well it's not exactly hard either," Jenn replied with a smirk on her face. 

Grey turned his head around and returned the look.

Jenn cocked an eyebrow and with a mischievous tone said "You wanna race?"

"Sure, first one to find a silver ore, wins."

"Right. On your mark, … Get set, … GO!"

At the sound of the word 'go' the two began searching furiously for the elusive ore. Jenn came across some copper ore which is stashed away in her basket, and even some loose money her and there. She discarded all the junk ore she found and after half an hour she triumphantly flashed a newly dug up silver ore at Grey.

"HAH! I win, eat that Grey!" she exclaimed as she stuck her tongue out cutely.

"Heh, I guess I'm totally outclassed."

Grey's smirk has turned into a grin. Jenn gave him the silver ore and began climbing up the ladder with her basket of ores and other crops. After going up a few rungs Grey began to climb the ladder right after her, needless to say, it was a bit … difficult … for him to not look up while climbing, for one reason or another.

"Nice view…" he muttered.

"What did you say Grey?" Jenn asked curiously.

"Nothing!"

After Jenn escorted Grey back to the blacksmith's and dropped him off, she grabbed her trusty fishing pole and headed for the goddess stream. She still had no idea how to use it, so she might as well learn now, ne? As she was climbing up the steps Jenn could see Cliff's figure there; he was also fishing in the stream.

"Cliff?"

Cliff glanced at her casually from his spot.

"Oh, hey Jenn," he greeted. He turned back to his fishing.

"I thought you'd be at the church, I never knew you fished," she commented.

"Well yeah, I kinda have to," he said sheepishly, "Since I don't have a steady job and limited cash I have to fish every once in a while."

'I probably would have had to as well if the Harvest Sprites didn't help me,' Jenn thought to herself.

"I don't now how to fish. This nice man named Greg gave me this rod but I don't know how to use it. I thought I might come here and learn how to use it."

"Oh, well I'll teach you how to fish," Cliff said cheerily.

"Oh thanks. I'll probably fish a lot better now that your helping me."

After a short explanation of how to use her fishing rod, Jenn was ready to have her first go at it. She took a deep breath and cast her rod. After a short time she could feel something tugging at the line.

"Hey, I can feel something!" she announced excitedly.

"That's great Jenn. Now just reel it in," Cliff explained.

Following Cliff's advice, Jenn reeled in what she caught. When her 'catch' finally surface, Jenn's excitement quickly faded away.

"Aww, all I got was a can."

"Yeah, there is a lot of garbage in the waters around here," Cliff begun, "Fish are getting more scarce. That's why we shouldn't litter."

Jenn pouted. Her first catch wasn't really impressive. It was really embarrassing, especially since Cliff was there with her. Cliff could see her disappointment.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get something sooner or later, just keep at it."

He felt something tug at his line. He reeled it in quickly, and on the end of his line was a small fish.

"See, it just takes a little time and practice, that's all."

Jenn cast her line again. It was a long wait before she got something again. She didn't mind though since Cliff was there with her. She really enjoyed his company. The day rolled on and Cliff managed to get a few medium sized fish. Jenn's line on the other hand was lacking in the action department. The sun began to set and they were just about to pack up and head home when something tugged violently at Jenn's line. She pulled her pole back and furiously tried to reel it in but the fish was too strong. It pulled back and ended up yanking Jenn off her feet, and nearly drug her into the water when Cliff rushed over to help her. Jenn got to her feet and both she and Cliff wrenched the pole back revealing what was on the end of the line. At the tip of Jenn's rod was a…

"What is it?" Jenn asked with a puzzled expression.

"I think it's a Char," Cliff replied, "But I'm not completely sure."

The fish was, overall, unimpressive, just like Jenn's other catch. This fish was much larger Cliff's fish, but it was so thin and skinny, it looked like it was made from bone and scales. By the way it was colored they would have to throw it back because it was poisonous. 'I really wanted to catch a lot of fish to give to Cliff. That way I'd impress him and give him something to eat!' Jenn thought. Jenn pouted for a little bit and Cliff could see her unhappiness yet again. Just at that very moment, Kano the photographer appeared. An idea popped into Cliff's head and he beckoned Kano over to them.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't we have Kano take a picture of your catch?" Cliff suggest.

"Why? It's not that very pretty."

"Ah, c'mon Jenn, lighten up," Cliff said smiling, "It'll be fun."

Kano adjusted him camera and began to center it on Jenn. He was about to take the picture when he motioned Cliff to stand closer to Jenn. Cliff edged just a tiny bit over. Kano sighed and then moved from his position to beside Cliff. He pushed Cliff to about two inches away from Jenn and told him to stay put until the picture was done. Cliff was a bit uneasy. His stomach growled loudly and Cliff's face turned beat red. Kano snapper the photo and Cliff scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. By now the fish was about half dead so Jenn quickly took the hook out of it's mouth and tossed it back into the river.

Kano walked up to them and handed Jenn the picture.

"I think it's one of my better pictures," he said. "Will you be wanting copies?" 

"Nah, not really," Cliff said, "Hey thanks for your help Kano. We really appreciate it."

There was a loud caw, and a shadow of a bird over head began to circle around the two. Jenn looked up at it and began to feel nostalgic. It swooped down and landed on Cliff's shoulder. She gazed at it with an empty stared and began to remember a song. It seemed as if it just flooded out of her.

__

"A voice from the past, Joining yours and mine,

Cutting out the layers of harmony, and so it goes on and on,

Melodies of life, to the sky beyond the flying birds – forever and beyond."

Cliff was completely and utterly confused. Here was this girl that just seemed to 'phase out' as soon as she saw Cain, and then she began singing. He just stood there and listened to her singing.

__

"So far and away, see the bird as it flies by,

Gliding through the shadows of the clouds up on the sky,

I've laid my memories and dreams upon those wings,

Leave them now and see what tomorrow brings."

Jenn paused for a moment, still in her daze. Cliff thought she was finished and smiled sweetly.

"Hey, you know, that wasn't half bad Jenn."

Jenn began to wobble just a bit. Cliff blinked and asked if she was ok. There was no response. Jenn closed her eyes and then collapsed, leaving Cliff in a panic over what to do.

Jenn woke up and felt as if her heard was a balloon that was detached from her body, floating off somewhere in space. Dizziness overcame her, and she was feeling faint. Jenn plopped her head back down on the pillow, and with a blurred vision, saw Doctor looking over her.

"You really shouldn't be moving," he said. "Try and conserve your strength."

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Cliff brought you in here in the afternoon yesterday. It's about 11 am in the morning. It seems as though you at something poisonous. Probably something you picked up in the woods nearby. Try to be careful about the food you eat there."

Jenn began to stir and tried to get out of the hospital bed. "I have to go take care of my farm…" she said weakly.

"You can go back to your farm if you want Jenn, but I suggest that you don't do any work. If you so, you will more than likely collapse again and be in worse condition than before."

"But…but," she argued, "I can't sit around and do nothing. I have to take care of my animals and crops. It's not much work so I'm sure I'll be fine…"

"Jenn you shouldn't work when you are sick!"

The Doctor and Jenn turned to see Rick standing inside the clinic just in front of the door.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to over hear your conversation, but I did. See, I came here to pick up some medicine for my mother when I heard everything. Jenn, if you are really that worried about your farm, then I can help you run it while you are sick. I know how to take care of crops and animals because I run the poultry farm."

"But what about your hens and mother?"

"Popuri can take care of hens, and even though m mother is still ill, she is a lot stronger than you are right now."

"…And of course I'll come at the end of each day to check up on you," Doctor added in.

Jenn wasn't in the right state of mind to protest. She nodded her head slowly and fell back into bed, drawing the covers over her. This left Rick and Doctor with the problem of carting her over to her house without disturbing her.

It was only a couple of days Jenn spent sick. She enjoyed Rick and Doctor's company quite a bit. Rick would come in early in the morning and speak with her a bit before going out into her farm and working. He would come in periodically to speak with her so she didn't get lonely. When he was done with work he would come back inside and keep her company until Doctor came to check up on her.

"I really appreciate everything your doing for me Rick."

"It's no problem Jenn," he replied, "After all you did help me get Popuri back and you are trying to save this town form becoming bankrupt. I should be thanking you!"

"But you're doing so much," she said weakly.

There was a brief pause of silence. "Why did you decide to help me?"

"You reminded me of my mother, laying sick in bed."

There was another awkward pause of silence.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Doctor said as he entered through the front door.

"Oh, no, not at all Doctor," Rick explained, "I was just telling Jenn how valuable she is to this village and how we appreciate her taking over the farm."

Doctor nodded in agreement and went about his way with Jenn's checkup. He said that with a good night's rest she should be able to get back to work the next morning. Rick said goodbye and left, leaving the Doctor and Jenn alone.

"How much do I owe you for taking care of me?" she asked?

"Nothing."

"What?"

"Don't worry about paying me for expenses, Jenn."

"Why is that?' she questioned.

"Let's called this repayment for those herbs you gave me a while back ok?"

Before Jenn could protest anymore Doctor got up and left. Was everyone in this town this friendly all the time? Maybe life here wouldn't be so bad. People in the city sure could learn a lesson or three or four from these humble town folks.

…

People in the city? What were they like? They were bad? No, shallow, cold, uncaring, greedy and manipulative. That's what they were. She felt bitter about the city, but why? A feeling of excitement rushed over her. Slowly but surely Jenn's memory was returning to her. All she needed was some kind of huge catalyst that would allow all her memories to become unlocked. Jenn tried to delve deeper into her mind to search for snipplets of past, but couldn't learn anything more. After exhausting herself from all the strain of trying to remember her lost past, Jenn drifted to sleep peacefully.


	5. New Prospects in the Horizon

Part 2 – Spring, Yr1: New Prospects in the Horizon

The next morning Jenn slept in a little late. She woke up at 8:30 and began to tend to her crops. After sprinkling them with water from her watering can, Jenn promptly went to her chicken coop and fed her heads. Inside the coop was warm and cozy. No wonder the chickens laid such good eggs. Jenn checked her watch. It read 9:30. A quick nap right now would do her some good and later on she would go to the forest and rummage around for things she could ship. Instead of leaving the hen house and going into her own house to sleep, Jenn plopped right down where she was in the coop. Why the heck not? There was hay every so it was nice and soft. The worse that could happen is one of chicken would poop on her or peck her while she was sleeping, and somehow Jenn thought that they had better common sense than that.

Jenn found herself conscious in her own dreams. It was one of those times where you _know_ your dreaming, and keep dreaming without waking up. She had done this a few times before, but hasn't done it enough to actually master and control her dreams.

__

"Jenn, dear, please put on that nice dress your father and I bought for you."

"I told you mom I don't want to go to that stupid dance with you two! I'm an adult already, I can make choices for myself! Now I'm going to that hockey game with my friends!"

"Jennifer Anastasia Russell, don't you dare take that tone of voice with me!"

"But mom!"

"Don't you but me! Think of all the things we have down for you, and this is how you repay us!"

"Calm down you two. Darling, let's not yell so loudly, ok? And Jenn, dearest, please do as your mother asks you to do? We aren't asking you to do that much are we?"

"Why won't you just let me do something I want to do for once? I'm sick of always trying to please you two! Nothing I ever do is good enough and you're always asking me to do more and more each day!"

Jenn snapped her head up and glanced at her surroundings. She was back inside her hen house. That dream must have been part of her past. She checked her watched to see how long she had slept.

"5:10?!?!" she cried.

Jenn had slept away most of the day. It was now evening and the shipper had already come. Rats. She exited the hen house and made her way to her own house when she noticed something stuffed in her mailbox. It was a bag of cookies, with a note attached.

__

"I didn't see you outside so I just put these in your mailbox. Hope you're feeling better Jenn.

Happy Thanksgiving.

-Your secret admirer."

"What?" Jenn asked herself slightly confused. "Cookies? On Thanksgiving? IN SPRING?"

Thanksgiving was supposed to be in Fall and you didn't give cookies to people, you ate turkey! She was utterly confused with the concept, so much so, she completely ignored the 'secret admirer' part. Perhaps this was just another local festival? Jenn put her cookies inside her fridge then set off for the Inn. Surely someone there could explain what this cookie business was about. As she left her farm two small sprite-like shadows ran out from a nearby bush. One was in bright red, and the other was in green. The green one was holding a felt-tip marker.

"Heh, now Jenn won't have to be alone so much, budum. If she thinks someone likes her, budum then maybe she can find a friend and they can _like-like_ each other," Timid chirped.

"Whoever she picks will be a lucky guy, budum!" said Chef, "I used a super secret special recipe on those cookies that no one can refuse, budum. She will probably give that guy a big hug, budum."

-Scene Change-

"Oh, you got cookies!" Ann exclaimed. "You see, this is another tradition we have here at Mineral Village. In the Spring, Guys give cookies to girls that they like. And in the winter, girls give cake to guys that they like."

"So why do you call it "Thanksgiving then" Jenn asked.

"I dunno, I guess we always just did," Ann replied, "But this is exciting! You already got the attention of one of the bachelors here! I wonder who it is?"

Jenn gave Ann a puzzled look, then excused herself. She really didn't want to sit and gossip or speculate about men in the village, especially since it was getting so late. On her way back to her house Jenn didn't notice the two small sprites rush pass her, muffling giggles under their breath.

Back at her house, Jenn took out the cookies and some relaxation tea. She sipped at the tea and began to munch on the cookies. They were delicious. Her mind drifted as she began to make a meal out of the cookies. It was drifting back to that song she was singing to Cliff before she collapsed. She began to say the lyrics over and over in her head.

"What a crappy song," she said to herself.

__

'I agree.'

It was almost as if her own mind summoned those words to her. That voice was familiar. Not just a random voice pulled out from her memory, but a voice she heard in the village before. Or was her mind playing tricks on her? Maybe she just wanted the voice to sound familiar. Jenn was deep in thought for quite some time. She began to remember more lyrics from the song, and a few other small scenes, like her parents talking with someone and this gross guy they were trying to set her up with. She couldn't remember much more after that. Jenn sighed, and went to bed. She would just have to be patient and wait for her memory to come back to her slowly.

The week passed by quickly, and bits and pieces of Jenn's memory returned to her. She almost completely remembered all of time she spent on the ship, except for when she got washed off, naturally. Jenn never bothered telling any one else of her discoveries though. She didn't want to bother anyone in this town. Life was good, and everything was peaceful. Sometimes things did get a bit boring, but at least they had festivals at regular intervals to keep things alive. Jenn even went to a local horse race. Of course, her horse, Knight, wasn't nearly old enough to enter the race. Oh well, there was always next year. Mary informed Jenn that a few days after the horse race would be a Cooking Festival, just incase she was interested in entering. Mary had to be kidding. The only thing Jenn could cook up since she built her kitchen was Curry, and Relaxation Tea. Hopefully the Shopping Channel would have some product she could buy that would help her.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to try…" she said to herself.

Jenn still wasn't very confident in her own Curry recipe, so she decided to enter Chef's Relaxation Tea recipe. Jenn carted the Tea to the Town Square and gave it to the Mayor to be entered in the contest. He set her entree down on a nearby table and the contest began. The Gourmet Judge went from table to table, testing each dish and making a comment on it. He came up to Ann's then Doug's, and was utterly delighted. 

'Damnit! I forget I was against them! Now what? I'm going to end up losing…' she thought to herself.

Jenn was now nervous and began to fidget. The Judge was now approaching her table. He sampled her tea and his expression was blank for one moment.

'Here it comes…' she thought.

"This is magnificent! I've never tasted anything like this before! The blend of flavors is perfect. I announce the winner of this year's cooking contest to be JENN!"

Jenn was shocked. She didn't expect to do so well, but all of a sudden she won. And against Ann and Doug. Apparently, everyone else was shocked as well, because there was a deafening silence around them.

"Congratulations Jenn," Mary said, breaking the silence.

Everyone else congratulated her as well. Gray even came up and tasted the tea, confirming that it was indeed, excellent. Soon after, several of the other villagers tasted it as well.

"Hmm…I can't charge you for meals anymore at the Inn," said Doug. "Just kidding."

"Wow, I can't believe I won," Jenn murmured to herself.

"You shouldn't be," Doctor said to her.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You just look like a person that always wins, that's all."

Jenn looked at the Doctor intently for a while. Could he be the guy that saved her? She remembered telling that guy that she always won. Maybe it's just a coincidence? After all, she said that same thing to Gray in mines, and Gray could have just told him or something…right? Jenn snapped out of her daze and offered Doctor some of her tea, so she didn't look like some kind of fool. It wasn't long before the festival was over and everyone went to their homes. But still something nagged Jenn about what the Doctor had said. She shrugged it off and went in her house. Spring was coming to an end and she had to work hard to finish up all her spring crops.

It was the beginning of the last day of Spring. Jenn now had an enlarged Hen house and was planning on buying a cow soon. She shipped the last bit of produce and chopped down the remaining plants that had started to whither. It was almost one o'clock and she really needed a break. The last past few days Jenn was working really hard, and by the end of each day, she was completely wiped out. She would go to the beach and swim for a little bit, just to relax. Beads of sweat were pouring down her face. Jenn wiped her forehead and decided now was a good time to stop working and a good time to go for a swim. As she exited the farm, she saw Popuri and May talking with that guy she met in the church when she first got here. What was his name? Kai?

"It's never really summer until you're here Kai," Popuri said in a ditzy voice with a day dreamy look on her face.

"Heh, I know Popuri," Kai said with a wry smile on his face.

Kai walked passed the girls and made his way to a very dirty Jenn.

"Hey gorgeous, remember me?" Kai asked in a sly tone.

"Unfortunately," Jenn said with sarcasm apparent in her voice. Kai was amused and played right along with it.

"Aw, you mean you haven't been dreaming of me night and day the same way I do with you?"

"I think that would be considered a nightmare, not a dream," Jenn replied with the same hint of sarcasm. A small grin grew on her face and she started walking towards the beach.

"Playing hard to get? That's alright, you don't need to deny the way you feel about me."

"I think the only one here in denial is you," she said from her far away position.

Defeat, yet amused, Kai ran up beside Jenn and asked where she was going.

"Ever since the days have been getting hotter, I've been swimming at the beach to relax."

"Oh, so you like to swim? I do too. In fact, I love swimming. I'm the best swimmer in my town, and in this one too," he said with a hint of mischief in his voice, "Oh course, I'm not all talk. I can prove to you that I'm the best in tomorrow's swimming festival. I take it I'll see you there?"

Jenn's grin grew. Slightly. "Alright then."

Once again, Kai flash off his million-dollar smile. "Great, I'll see you tomorrow then. Right now I have to go make reservations for my room at the Inn."

Kai left and Jenn was along on beach, still smiling.

"Maybe I'll enter that contest myself," she whispered to herself as she stripped down to her swimsuit and began to paddle out into the water.

~~~~~~~

Ok, It's been what? 3 chapters or so since I had an author's note, but like I said at the beginning of Spring, this was originally one huge chapter I decided to chop up into pieces just so it's easier on the reader. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Look forward to Summer, I have many surprises installed for it. :D Questions? Comments? Go ahead an say 'em ;D


	6. Summer days, drifting away

Summer, Yr1: Summer days, drifting away…

The sun crept into Jenn's house rather quickly and early in the morning. Well, it _was_ officially summer, and the days _were_ supposed to be longer. Joy. Jenn's hazy eyes flit open and she yawned as she sat up in bed. The air around her was hot and humid, despite that it was still only 6:00 am. Oh, it was summer alright. Jenn rubbed her eyes, trying to get the 'morning glory', as her mother called it, out of her eyes. She lazily yawned once more before throwing her feet over the side of the bed and reaching down to pick up the blankets off the floor she had kicked off the bed the previous night.

She prepared herself for the normal daily routines as she always did. By 6:05 Jenn was outside and ready to take on the world. Hoisting her copper hoe onto her left shoulder, she made her way to her now-empty field. It was almost depressing for her to have chopped down last months crops (those being her first set of plants to grow and harvest), but at the same time, it made her feel proud that she got through that one challenge and was now moving onto another. She set the hoe down by her fish pond and toss bits of food in for the fishes she managed to catch. Being the poor fisherman …er woman that she was, there were only 3 or 4 fish. Perhaps she would have a hand at fishing once again after the swimming contest? Maybe, but now was not the time for that.

Reaching in her rucksack, Jenn pulled out a large bag of tomato seeds. She planted them in the first row of tilled land (3 x 12 rows), and sprinkled them with water shortly afterwards. She did another row of tomatoes before she planted another two rows of corn, and two rows of pineapples. Jenn paused for a moment to catch her breath. The grass she planted on the far right side of the farm in the middle of spring was coming along fine. She would probably have enough for cows and sheep soon. She smiled at herself and all the things she had accomplished so far. If things went lucky, she could try a small flower garden. Jenn already knew where it would go. On the far right side of the farm would be a good size grass field for livestock to graze in. The other part of her farm would be divided into 3 smaller sections. The main part, the area just outside of her house and in front of the barn would be would stretch all the way down to the chicken house. A small plot of land was reserved in front of the chicken house for the chickens to stay outside when the weather was good. And the small strip of remaining soil would be used for her garden. Jenn wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead before she went into the chicken coop and let the chickens roam outside, in their pen. She whistled for her dog, Blue, to come.

"Now Blue, make sure that none of those wild dogs get a hold off these chickens while they are outside, ya hear?" she ordered, waving her index finger in a threatening fashion.

The puppy gave her a puzzled look, then proceeded to sniff his rear end during her lecture.

"Why do I even bother?" Jenn lamented in a pitiful tone.

She ruffled the fur on top of the puppy's head and went back to work. It was nearly noon before Jenn finished her chores and she was very tired and sore. She ended up hoeing and planting a few extra columns of pineapples beside the other crop rows. She was now in the spa, relaxing. It's what one definitely needs after a long day of farming and then a walk through the mountain to collect shippable items. With all the things she had to do in a day, she would get dizzy, and dizziness was something she didn't need if she wanted to win that swimming contest. Half an hour later she grudgingly got out and went to her house to prepare for the upcoming contest.

It was at her house that Jenn saw Ann standing outside her house door. As she came onto her property from the mountain path, Jenn called out to the young red head.

"Hey Ann! What are you doing here?"

"Jenn!" Ann exclaimed, "Nothing, I just came to get you for the swimming contest, that is, if you are done with your work."

"Yeah, I'm done," Jenn said as she was ringing out her still wet hair," Just give me a sec to slip into my swimsuit."

Jenn lightly shoved the door open then motioned for Ann to go in before her. Once inside Jenn made her way to her bathroom while Ann wandered about aimlessly in Jenn's house, looking at this and looking at that. It wasn't long before Jenn slipped out of the bathroom, showing off her red, two piece swimsuit to Ann. Jenn compared her attire to Ann's yellow one piece.

"Hmm, maybe this isn't the best choice…" she said to herself.

"Oh, don't be silly Jenn, you'll be fine!"

Before sprinting off to the beach with Ann, Jenn tied her hair back in a messy bun to keep her hair from going in front of he face when she swam. Jenn and Ann made their way to Mineral beach. By the time they got there, everyone was ready for the contest to start. It was noon and the sun was blazing hot. The residents of Mineral village were relaxing under beach umbrellas or Kai's porch, waiting for the contest to start. Jenn and Ann were greeted by Karen as they entered Mineral beach.

"Hey! I heard you two were going to enter in this year's swimming contest! That's great!" Karen chirped.

"Yeah," Jenn said with a slight nod, "Aren't you going to enter?"

Karen shook her head. "No, I can't swim. I'll be on the sidelines rooting for you two. Good Luck!"

"Thanks a lot Karen!" Ann yelled as she an over to her father and Cliff, who were by the peer.

Now alone, Jenn surveyed the area to see who would be in the contest and who wouldn't. Besides herself, Ann and Kai, only three other people had swimsuits on: Gray, Elli, and Jeff. She strolled over to the Mayor who was barking out orders the same way he did at the last festival.

"Rick, hurry up and get to your position! No, No! Stu! You must stay behind the line and leave the swimmers alone!" he screamed.

'No wonder he has a receding hairline,' Jenn thought to herself as she grimaced at the red faced mayor. She was a bit hesitant to talk to the mayor in his current state, but if she wanted to find out anything, she would have to speak with him.

"Excuse me, Mayor?" she squeaked. The Mayor's face peeked up at Jenn. "Ah, Miss Jenn, by your attire, it's safe for me to assume that you'll be participating in the contest? Splendid!"

"Could you please tell me about the rules first?"

"Certainly madam," replied the jolly Mayor. "It's quite simple really. All the contestants will line up at the start line, and when the signal is given to begin, everyone swims over to Rick as fast as possible. The first one to reach him wins."

Jenn glanced over to where Rick was among the shallow rocks in the beach. Well, it sounded easy enough. Jenn thanked the Mayor and walked over to her starting position. She began to stretch her muscles to loosen them up before the race. Jenn gave another look around to her surroundings. Her eyes scanned up and down the stretching Gray and Kai in a discrete manor. Hey, she had a great chance to window shop, so why not? Her thoughts were broken by Ann and Cliff who were yelling across the beach at each other.

"Hey Ann! You look cute in your bathing suit!" he screamed.

"Cliff you are such a perv!" she screamed back, her face as red as a tomato.

Jenn wasn't quite sure if she was red from anger or if Ann was blushing. Insecurity gripped Jenn at that moment. Nobody had commented on her figure, or how she looked in a bathing suit. Was that bad or . . . was it good? Jenn mentally slapped herself for such thoughts. Now was not the time for these things! She set today's goal for one thing: to beat Kai.

"Swimmers, please get into your starting positions!" the Mayor yelled.

Kai, Elli, Gray, Ann, Jeff and Jenn all lined up against the edge of the beach, each with a determined look on their face.

"Ready to lose Jenn?" Kai hollered with a wry smile plastered on his face.

Seething with anger, Jenn huffed and kept her eyes focused on the finish line. Just who did that guy think he was?

"Ready…" the Mayor warned.

'Absolutely. More than ready to kick that sorry-little-good-for-nothing's…'

"GO!"

All the swimmers bolted for the water and jumped in.

'Just remember to pace yourself girl,' Jenn mentally noted to herself, 'all the amateurs will run out of energy by the time they get half way there.'

Jenn paced herself quite well, making sure to breathe every once in while. The others left her way behind, but that was fine. Jenn had confidence in her strategy. Peeking over to her side, Jenn noticed Kai and Gray on par with her, while everyone else was practically drowning just a few feet in front of them. As soon as she passed a floundering Elli, Jenn took one final deep breath and began to kick her legs furiously. She saw Kai do the same. The race was one. It was between her and Kai now, and she was NOT about to settle for second place.

The faster Jenn swam, the more her lungs burned as her dwindling supply of stored oxygen was being depleted. The plus side was that Kai couldn't be any better off than her, right? He had to be feeling the same pain she did. With one final burst of energy, Jenn cut through the water lie a hot knife through butter. Finally she reached the end and scrambled onto the rocks, but did she win? She wheezed as she tried to catch, and her vision was blurred from the salt water in her eyes. She couldn't shake off the slight dizzy feeling that she had managed to gain from this small endurance test, but still, she searched to see just who exactly had won. From the corner of eye Jenn spotted the last person she wanted to see…Kai. He was bent over, hands on his knees, breathing deeply just like Jenn. He had that stupid smile painted across his face as he stared at Jenn. It was a close race, and judging would be even closer. Jenn had this gut sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

She knew.

He knew.

He beat her.

Jenn let out a disgusted huff and mentally cursed herself. Slowly, she cast her gaze up to Rick for the judging. Rick, unnoticed by Kai, winked at Jenn. What was going on?

"That was a close race."

Jenn's head snapped in the direction the voice came from. Standing beside her was a soaked Gray. Drat it all, she forgot that he was also right up there with herself and Kai. Wait, just how long had he been there anyway? Kai, now over confidently with his hands on his hips, opened his mouth to speak, but before anything could be said, Rick interrupted him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the race has ended and it is now time to announce the winner. It was a close call against three contestants, so let's all give a warm round of applause for Gray, Jenn, and Kai!"

There were woots, whistles, and joyful hollers for all thee of them, but Popuri's applause for Kai was by fare the loudest. And, of course, Kai just had to bow and blow out kisses to his adoring fans. Jenn hadn't realized that Gray caught up with them because she was so focused on beating Kai. She didn't see him pass her though, so they must have tied.

"…And the winner is…" Rick said imitating a game show host, "JENN!"

"WHAT!?!" Kai spat.

So _that's_ what the winking was about earlier. Jenn got a warm fuzzy feeling inside of her. It was kind of Rick to place Jenn in first place instead of Kai. It was a close race and the only one who would be able to tell was him, but Jenn couldn't accept this. It wouldn't be right and she wouldn't prove that she was better than that creep by lying about her abilities. She gave a warm smile to Rick, then turned to the rest of the crowd on Mineral Beach.

"It was a really close race, but I'm sure that Kai won first place."

Kai, who was then preoccupied with making up new swear words to add to the dictionary (the old ones wouldn't do justice to the way he wished to expressed himself) stopped mid-vulgarity and stared blankly at Jenn.

"I really only tied second place with Gray, but, like I said before, the race was close, and it was a simple mistake."

The rest of the festival followed rather uneventfully. Awards were handed out, Kai flexed, Popuri ogled, and everyone went home, leaving Jenn alone once again. Before Rick went home though, she did manage to get a private word with him.

"Thanks."

"You've only proven how much of a great person you are," Rick explained, slightly embarrassed. He waved goodbye and quickly ran off with Popuri to their mother's house. Even though things were ok with Rick and Jenn, Popuri seemed absolutely furious with Rick and her. She kept giving evil glances at Jenn, and she was sure that when Rick got home, he would get an earful from his little sister - - if he was lucky. Oh well. They'd get over it eventually.

"Good job today."

Jenn spun around to find Gray behind her, with a hand extended out for shaking. How did he always manage to sneak up behind her?

"It wasn't anything big," she replied, accepting the handshake.

The corners of Gray's mouth slightly curved upward, forming a slight smile.

"You have my respect."

With that, Gray withdrew his hand and turned to leave for his room at the Inn. If Jenn got anything out of today, it was a close up look of Gray's finely toned body in a bathing suit. Now _that_ was something certainly worth all the effort she put forth today. Score one for the blond chick.

"Hey Gray!"

He stopped at the mention of his name and looked back at Jenn.

"You look really hot in your swim trunks!" she yelled.

She swore she could have seen him blush. Gray quickly muttered a thanks before scurrying back to the Inn. It was so cute how shy and surprised he acted when she said that. Even if nobody commented on how she looked in her bathing suit, that didn't have to stop her from doing the same courtesy for others. Beaming with a new confidence, Jenn slung her towel over her shoulder and made her way back to her ranch. This was a whole new month, and a lot of work had to be done.

A/N- AH! I'm SO sorry for the lack of updates in months! I know this wasn't much for an update, but I plan to be more active in my updates in the future. Promise. I can't even remember all the ideas I had planned for this story, but that's ok because I wrote them down somewhere. ;; Well, even if I don't remember them, I'm sure I'll come up with something surprising for you folks. How was this chapter by the way? Up to par? Sub par? I try to look at all reviews objectively. All comments welcome so that I may improve my writing. And please, PLEASE tell me about mistakes. I know that I have them, but there is a lot to go over and I know I can't catch _all_ of them. So, if you see a mistake, then please tell me where/what it is so I can fix it. hands out Harvest Moon plushies to all her reviewers Thank you for being loyal readers.


End file.
